The   Higher  Utilities   of   Science. 

By 
•Joser>h  LeConte 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


ROBERT  ERNEST  COWAN 


THE  HIGHER  UTILITIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


PROF.  JOSEPH -LEG 


THK  HIGHER  UTILITIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


DELIVERED    BY 


PROF.  JOgEPff'LECO/fTE, 


IIEFOHE   THK 


CHIT-CHAT   CLUB, 

AT  THEIR  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  BANQUET, 

San  Francisco,   November  1410,   1881. 


a/?/ 


THE  HISHER  UTILITIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


In  response  to  the  toast:    SCIENCE. — She  teaches  all  things. 
"A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing. " 

We  hear  much  in  these  times  of   diffusion  of 
knowledge  and  popularization  of  Science.     I  sin- 
cerely sympathize  with  the  movement,  and   have 
done  something  myself  to  carry  it  on.     But  it  is 
seldom  we  get  a  good  without   a   corresponding 
evil.     In  the  extensive  diffusion  of  knowledge,  are 
we  not  in  some  danger  of  making  the  stratum  very 
thin  ?     In  the  universal  popularization  of  Science 
tfa  are  we  not  in  some  danger  of  making  our  science 
g?  superficial?     In  a   word,  are  we  not  in  danger  of 
~  being  flooded  with  a  shallow  Sciolism  instead   of 
oe  nourished  and  strengthened  by  a  profound  Science  ? 
Yet  I  do  not  think  the  danger  from  this  quarter 
-1  as  great  as  many  imagine.     The  chief   danger  is 
*   not  so  much  in  the  quantity  as  in   the  quality  of 
=5   Science;  not  so  much  in  the  amount  as  in  the  spirit 
in  which  it  is  given  and  received.     There  is  an  evil 
as  well  as  a  good  spirit  of  Science.     The  evil  spirit 
of  Science  is  boastful,  arrogant,  contemptuous;  it 
despises  Art,  contemns  Philosophy,  and  especially 
sneers  at  Religion.      Such  Science  is  hurtful  to  the 
individual  and  baneful  to  society,  whether  its  quan- 
tity be  great  or  small.     The  good  spirit  of  Science, 
on  the  contrary,   recognizes   the  co-ordinate  value 


307633 


and  equal  dignity  of  all  the  great  departments  of 
human  thought,  and  co-operates  with  them  in  gen- 
erous rivalry  for  the  elevation  of  humanity.  This 
spirit  is  beneficent,  whether  the  amount  of  Science 
be  much  or  little.  Like  Charity,  "it  vaunteth  not 
itself,  is  not  puffed  up;"  like  Mercy,  it  is  "  twice 
blessed,  blessing  him  that  gives  and  him  that 
takes." 

It  is  this  liberal,  generous,  beneficent  spirit  of 
Science  that  I  wish  to  hold  up  to  admiration. 
Leaving  aside  the  manifold  and  obvious  waj's  in 
which  Science  contributes  to  our  material  well- 
being,  I  wish  to  point  out  some  of  the  less  recog- 
nized, because  less  obtrusive,  and  yet  the  far  nobler 
ways  in  which  she  has  co-operated  with  all  other 
great  departments  in  the  elevation  of  our  humanity. 

I.  In  comparing  ancient  with  modern  thought, 
nothing,  it  seems  to  me,  is  more  striking  than  the 
difference  in  the  mode  in  which  Nature  is  viewed  in 
relation  to  Man.  The  tendency  of  ancient  thought 
was  to  exalt  man  into  a  derni-god,  and  correspond- 
ingly to  despise  Nature.  The  tendency  of  modern 
scientific  thought,  on  the  contrary,  is  to  sink  man 
into  comparative  nothingness,  in  bewildering  con- 
templation of  the  infinite  vastness  of  Nature.  This 
change  is  seen  both  in  Art  and  in  Science;  in  Art, 
in  the  increase  of  those  departments  like  landscape 
painting  and  descriptive  poetry,  which  deal  with 
nature;  in  Science,  in  the  amazing  advance  of  the 
natural  sciences.  To  the  Greek,  nothing  but  man 


was  a  worthy  subject  of  Fine  Art,  Nature  being  val- 
ued only  in  its  subserviency  to  man.  That  intense 
love  of  Nature  for  Nature's  self,  so  characteristic  of 
the  cultured  modern  man  —the  passion  for  mountain 
and  forest,  for  crag  and  cliff,  for  rushing  torrent 
and  leaping  waterfall,  for  blue  sky  and  drifting 
clouds;  a  passion  often  degenerating  into  dreamy 
reverie  and  even  into  weak  and  morbid  sentimen- 
tality— would  have  been  wholly  unintelligible  to 
the  active,  healthy,  man -worshipping  spirit  of  an 
ancient  Greek.  The  reason  is  obvious.  The  mys- 
tery of  Nature,  the  Infinite  in  Nature,  and  therefore 
the  sense  of  awe  in  the  presence  of  great  Nature 
was  unfelt;  the  Divine  in  Nature  was  unperceived, 
or  else  took  the  human  form  of  nymphs  and  dry- 
ads. Under  such  conditions  a  high  art  is  impos- 
sible. We  must  reverence  what  we  strive  to  em- 
body, or  our  work  is  mechanical.  The  deliberate 
representation  of  Nature  for  its  own  sake,  whether 
in  painting  or  poetry,  is  therefore  a  modern  Art. 
Exquisite  bits  of  Nature  desciption  we  indeed  have 
in  ancient  poetry — wonderfully  vivid  and  beautiful, 
especially  in  the  Odyssey — but  these  are  only  for 
background  to  the  human  figures,  for  setting  to  the 
human  gem. 

The  same  change  is  seen  far  more  plainly  in  the 
amazing  progress  of  all  the  Sciences  dealing  with 
nature.  The  Greek  philosopher  despised  Nature 
far  too  heartily  to  become  her  pupil.  He  arro- 
gated to  himself  the  power  to  deduce,  "a priori" 


the  laws  of  Nature  from  within — the  laws  of  the 
macrocosm  from  the  study  of  the  microcosm.  He 
sought  to  impose  laws  on  Nature,  instead  of  sitting 
at  her  feet  and  learning  her  laws  from  her  own 
lips.  Under  these  conditions  Science  is  impossi- 
ble. Mathematics,  indeed,  was  possible  and  was 
therefore  cultivated,  because  deduced  a  priori  from 
within  from  self-evident  truths;  but  a  Science  of 
Nature  must  be  induced  from  external  observed 
facts. 

Thus,  then,  we  perceive  that  the  human  mind 
has  steadily  passed  from  the  study  and  contempla- 
tion of  itself  to  the  study  and  contemplation  of 
Nature.  But  this  change,  though  necessary,  is  not, 
cannot  be,  final.  For  when,  by  the  study  of  Na- 
ture, a  solid  basis  for  Philosophy  is  laid,  the  human 
mind  must  again  return  to  the  study  and  contem- 
plation of  itself,  as  the  greatest  and  most  beautiful 
of  Nature's  works. 

Now,  in  effecting  this  great  and  necessary  change, 
though  all  sciences  co-operated,  yet  two  were  pecu- 
liarly active;  these  are  Astronomy  and  Geology. 
Nothing  has  so  tended  to  exalt  Nature  as  the  intro- 
duction of  the  idea  of  an  infinite  cosmos,  both  in 
Space  and  Time.  Nothing  has  so  tended  to  humil- 
iate the  pride  of  man  as  the  recognition  of  the  as- 
tounding fact  that  this  earth,  his  habitation — there- 
tofore imagined  to  be  the  whole  universe,  sun,  moen 
and  stars  being  but  little  satellites,  revolving  at  no 
great  distance  about  her,  and  for  his  behoof  —  is 


herself  but  a  little  satellite,  an  atom  in  an  infinite 
space  filled  with  other  worlds  far  greater  than  she; 
unless  it  be  that  other  similar  fact,  that  his  tiwe — 
the  life  of  his  race — theretofore  imagined  to  be  all 
of  Time,  is  but  a  moment  in  the  infinite  lapse  of 
time  represented  by  the  history  of  the  earth.  But 
mark  the  difference :  Astronomy  leaves  him  there 
humiliated,  prostrate  in  the  dust;  Geology  takes 
him  by  the  hand,  lifts  him  up  and  restores  him  to 
his  dignity.  Astronomy  gives  no  hint  that  our 
earth  is  in  any  respect  superior  to  many  of  the  innu- 
merable sister  worlds  which  fill  infinite  space,  or 
our  race  to  many  other  possible  embodied  in- 
telligences; but  Geology  teaches  us,  in  language 
that  cannot  be  mistaken,  that  the  whole  history  of 
the  earth,  and  all  previous  epochs,  find  their  cul- 
mination and  significance  in  our  epoch,  and  the 
whole  organic  kingdom,  struggling  upwards  through 
all  time,  reaches  its  goal  in  man.  Thus  our  Time- 
world  becomes  the  center  of  the  Time-cosmos,  and 
man  the  crown  of  creation.  Thus  is  man  restored 
to  his  dignity  —  or  rather  dignity  is  given  in  place 
of  pride.  "  Pride  goeth  before  a  fall,"  but  true 
dignity  comes  after. 

I  have  said  the  change  was  necessary  but  not 
final.  A  few  words  to  justify  this  remark. 

Proud  Philosophy,  from  the  dawn  of  civilization, 
attacked  at  once  the  highest  and  most  complex 
problems  which  can  agitate  the  human  mind;  but 
in  vain,  because  by  wrong  methods.  The  most  intri- 


cate  and  beautiful  philosophic  systems,  gossamer- 
like,  were  spun  from  the  human  brain,  but  only  to 
be  quickly  destroyed  by  criticism.  Again  other 
equally  beautiful  systems  arose,  with  their  groups 
of  eager,  enthusiastic  disciples,  but  again  unspar- 
ing criticism,  disintegration  and  death  followed  in 
quick  succession.  Science,  on  the  contrary,  far 
more  humble,  acknowledging  her  inability  at  once 
to  grapple  with  the  highest  questions,  commenced 
first  with  the  lowest;  not  because  they  are  the  low- 
est, but  because  they  are  the  simplest;  and  making 
the  solution  of  these  the  basis  for  higher  work,  has 
built  up  steadily  tier  upon  tier,  story  upon  story, 
until  she  is  even  now  attacking  successfully  the  very 
questions  of  Sociology  and  Psychology  which  de- 
fied the  utmost  efforts  of  her  more  ambitious  sister. 
Her  success  is  the  result  not  of  superior  power,  but 
of  right  method.  There  is  none  other  foundation  pos- 
sible but  that  which  is  laid  in  nature.  This  stone, 
rejected  of  the  Greek  philosophic  builders,  is  ac- 
cepted by  Science,  and  become  the  chief  corner- 
stone of  the  temple  of  knowledge. 

Thus  the  systems  of  the  old  philosophy  are  like 
castles  in  the  air  —  beautiful  cloud  castles  glisten- 
ing in  the  early  dawn  of  thought,  but  vanishing 
with  the  light  of  day.  The  work  of  Science  is  like 
a  substantial  castle  built  on  the  solid  ground,  out 
of  enduring  material  taken  from  the  quarry  of  Na- 
ture, and  rising  steadily  from  age  to  age.  Or,  to 
vary  the  figure:  Knowledge  and  culture,  under 


the  guidance  of  Philosophy,  is  like  an  annual;  it 
springs  up  quickly  and  grows  rapidly,  maturing  its 
beautiful  flowers  of  Art  and  fruit  of  Industry  and 
social  prosperity,  then  withers  and  dies.  From  seed 
it  springs  up  again.,  perhaps  under  higher  forms, 
but  only  to  pass  again  and  again  through  the  same 
short  and  beautiful  cycle.  Under  the  guidance  of 
Science,  on  the  contrary,  knowledge  is  a  perennial 
tree,  increasing  ever  in  bulk  and  height  by  succes- 
sive additions,  flowering  and  fruiting  every  year, 
unexhausted  and  inexhaustible. 

II.  The  next  point  to  which  I  would  direct  at- 
tention is  the  relation  of  Science  to  the  idea  of 
human  progress.  Observe,  I  mean  not  merely  pro- 
gress, but  conscious,  voluntary  progress;  the  con- 
scious striving  after  a  higher  goal. 

Under  the  guidance  of  the  Old  Philosophy  so- 
ciety, though  on  the  whole  probably  progressive, 
was  so  in  such  staggering  and  uncertain  way  as  to 
leave  the  fact  always  questionable,  and  often  un- 
recognized. The  idea  of  human  progress,  as  we 
now  understand  it,  is  a  modern  idea;  it  did  not  ex- 
ist among  the  ancients,  unless  dimly  perceived  by 
some  of  the  prophets  of  Israel.  What  progress 
they  made  was  an  unconscious  evolution,  not  the 
conscious  striving  toward  an  ever  higher  goal. 
For  them,  therefore,  the  Golden  Age  was  in  the 
past,  not  the  future.  Whence,  then,  came  the  in- 
spiring idea  of  social  progress,  so  characteristic  of 
modern  times  ?  It  was  first  distinctly  announced 


by  Him  whom  all  acknowledge  (whatever  else  they 
may  deny  concerning  him)  as  the  divinest  of  teach- 
ers. He  alone  announced  a  Golden  Age  in  the 
future.  But  what  a  Golden  Age!  How  different 
from  all  others!  A  Divine  Kingdom  on  Earth,  a 
Kingdom  of  Peace,  Truth,  Love,  Justice,  Holiness. 
Thenceforward  this  idea  became  a  new  principle  of 
life  and  continuous  growth.  At  that  moment  there 
was  a  new  birth  of  Humanity  to  a  higher  plane, 
and  all  our  modern  civilization  is  the  natural  out- 
growth. 

Now,  what  is  the  relation  of  Science  to  this  glo- 
rious idea?  The  mission  of  Science  is  to  justify 
and  verify  it  to  our  reason.  It  is  the  part  of  Genius 
and  of  Inspiration  to  see  and  announce  Truth.  It 
is  the  part  of  popular  insight  to  appropriate  it  by 
Faith;  but,  alas,  how  doubtfully,  tremblingly!  It 
is  the  part  of  Science  to  verify  it  and  make  it 
forever  certain.  Science  has  verified  this  great 
truth  first  by  its  own  example.  Amid  the  successive 
rise,  culmination  and  decline  of  all  else— King- 
doms and  Peoples,  Philosophies  and  Systems — 
Science  alone  has  marched  steadily  onward,  with  a 
progress  which  knows  no  ebb,  and  becomes  thus 
the  pledge  and  the  type  of  all  human  progress — 
the  pledge  of  its  certainty  and  the  type  of  its 
method.  But  one  department  alone  has  done  more 
than  this.  Geology  alone  has  demonstrated  that 
progress  is  a  universal  law  of  Nature.  This  she 
does  Vy  that  great  law  so  much  vilified  and  misun- 


derstood,  but  so  fraught  with  blessings  to  human- 
ity: aye,  and  to  true  religion — the  universal  Law  of 
Evolution.  As,  through  infinite  Time,  the  inor- 
ganic struggled  upward  to  find  its  goal  and  com- 
pletion in  the  organic;  as,  through  uuimagined 
ages,  the  organic  kingdom  struggled  upward  to 
find  its  completion  and  significance  in  Man,  so 
Man  must  take  up  the  progress  on  a  higher  plane, 
and  must  struggle  ever  upward,  first  unconsciously, 
but  now  consciously,  to  reach  his  completion  in 
the  free  man  —  the  ideal  man.  As  dead  forces 
found  their  completion  in  Life;  as  Life  found  its 
completion  in  Reason,  so  Reason  must  find  its 
completion  in  Holiness  and  Freedom — in  that  per- 
fect harmony  of  our  whole  nature  which  is  the 
only  true  Holiness  and  the  only  true  Freedom. 

III.  But  some  will  say  the  true  test  of  the  im- 
portance of  any  subject  is  its  utility.  Be  it  so;  but 
then  we  must  use  the  word  utility  in  its  widest 
sense.  Utility  is  the  capacity  to  contribute  to  hu- 
man life;  and  therefore  must  sum  up  every  kind 
of  value.  But  if  human  life  be  indeed  not  only 
material,  but  also  spiritual;  not  only  physical,  but 
also  psychical;  not  only  temporal,  but  also  eternal, 
then  must  utility  be  the  capacity  to  contribute  to 
all  this  life  thus  completly  constituted.  Thus 
there  must  be  two  kinds  of  utility—  a  lower  and  a 
higher.  A  lower  which  contributes  to  our  material 
life,  and  a  higher  which  contributes  to  our  higher 
intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  life.  The  lower 


utility  of  Science — her  pre-eminent  value  in  con- 
tributing to  our  material  well-being  is  acknowl- 
edged by  all,  but  it  is  her  power  to  contribute  to 
our  higher  life,  which  alone  will  entitle  her  to  our 
highest  love  and  reverence;  which  alone  will  enti- 
tle her  to  hold  rank  with  Art,  Philosophy  and  Re- 
ligion. If  I  do  not  dwell  now  on  the  lower  utility 
of  Science  it  is  not  because  I  would  undervalue  it. 
I  know  full  well  that,  as  in  the  individual  so  in 
society,  intellectual  vigor  and  spiritual  eleva- 
tion is  largely  conditioned  on  physical  well-being 
and  material  prosperity.  Science  is  not  too  proud 
to  stoop  to  contribute  to  even  the  lowest  wants  of 
man,  but  she  reaches  also  up  to  his  highest.  She 
sweeps  the  whole  gamut  of  human  wants,  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest.  All  honor,  then,  to  the 
lower  utility  of  Science. 

If,  therefore,  I  do  not  now  dwell  on  this  lower 
utility  it  is  not  because  I  do  not  highly  value  it, 
but  because,  through  its  obviousness,  the  higher 
utility  is  often  entirely  overlooked.  Many  even 
intelligent  men  seem  to  lose  sight  of  the  chief  glory 
of  Science  —  her  capacity  to  elevate  our  highest 
nature.  There  are  many  even  intelligent  men  who 
seem  to  think  that  the  chief  end  and  highest  func- 
tion of  Science  is  to  embody  itself  in  useful  art — to 
feed,  clothe  and  bear  us  about;  to  feed  us  more 
sumptuously,  to  clothe  us  more  gorgeously,  and  to 
bear  us  about  more  swiftly  and  comfortably;  that 
he  who  spends  his  whole  life  in  reverently  studying 


13      * 

the  thoughts  of  God,  as  revealed  in  Nature,  is  suf- 
ficiently rewarded  for  broken  health  and  exhausted 
energy  if,  mayhap,  he  invent  a  new  method  of  gin- 
ning cotton  or  a  better  way  of  reducing  ores. 
Verily,  such  men  would  turn  this  beautiful  earth, 
the  garden  of  the  Almighty,  into  a  fodder-house; 
this  glorious  Temple  of  Nature,  with  its  flowery 
carpeted  floor,  and  its  over  arching  skyey  dome, 
into  a  house  of  merchandise.  They  would  pluck 
the  lights  from  heaven  and  put  them  in  candle- 
sticks. They  would  hew  down  the  tree  of  Science 
to  make  timber  withal,  instead  of  allowing  it  to 
bear  its  noblest  fruit  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
But  they  who  think  in  this  way  know  nothing  of 
the  true  dignity  of  Science,  nor,  indeed,  of  the 
true  dignity  of  Man.  From  the  higher  point 
of  view,  Science  is  tlie  human  form — the  image  of 
Divine  Truth — a  revelation  of  the  Divine  thought. 
The  end  of  all  revelation,  whether  natural  or  su- 
pernatural, is  to  perfect  the  Divine  image  in  the 
human  spirit.  The  distinctive  mission  of  Science 
in  this  connection  is  to  perfect  that  image  in  the 
Human  Eeason  as  ideal  truth.  The  highest  func- 
tion of  Science,  then,  is  not  to  lead  us  downward  to 
Art.  This  is  only  the  second  law;  its  first  and 
highest  law  is  to  lead  us  upward  to  the  fountain  of 
all  Truth.  Astronomy  is  more  to  be  honored  for 
opening  the  gates  of  heaven  and  revealing  to  us 
the  harmonies  of  the  Universe,  than  even  for  ex- 
tending the  limits  or  increasing  the  safety  of  navi- 

307633 


14 

gation.  Geology  is  more' to  be  valued  for  opening 
tbe  gates  of  Time  and  revealing  the  harmonies  of 
the  Time-cosmos  as  shown  ia  the  law  of  Evolu- 
tion— for  "  reclothing  dry  bones  and  revealing  lost 
creations,"  than  even  for  tracing  beds  of  coal  or 
veins  of  metal.  Only  it  has  been  mercifully 
ordered — "for  our  encouragement  it  has  been 
ordained  " — that  every  step  in  the  higher  walks  of 
Science  shall,  sooner  or  later,  be  attended  with 
material  benefits;  that  every  law  of  Nature,  besides 
its  higher  function  of  pointing  to  the  great  First 
Cause,  shall  also  have  its  appointed  duty  of  con- 
tributing to  the  material  wants  of  man;  that  Sun, 
Moon  and  Stars,  while  they  circle  about  the  throne 
of  God  and  join  their  spheral  harmony  with  the 
songs  of  angels,  shall  not  forget  to  bless  man  in 
their  courses;  that  streams,  whether  "adown  enor- 
mous ravines  they  slope  amain  filling  the  hills 
with  their  fierce  gladness,"  and  in  their  perilous 
fall  thundering  the  praises  of  God  to  the  silent 
listening  mountains,  or  whether  they  bear  the 
image  of  heaven  on  their  broad,  placid  bosoms, 
shall  also  turn  our  mills  and  water  our  meadows. 
But,  remember,  it  is  for  our  encouragement  it  is 
thus  ordered;  not  for  our  supreme  reward.  Truth 
is  its  own  exceeding  great,  unspeakable  reward. 

There  are  three,  and  only  three,  which  bear  wit- 
ness here  on  earth  of  things  heavenly  and  divine; 
there  are  three,  and  only  three,  human  pursuits 
which,  passing  beyond  the  veil  of  Time  and  Sense, 


take  hold  on  things  spiritual  and  eternal.  These 
are  Science,  Fine  Art,  Religion.  These  three  strive 
ever  together,  each  in  its  several  way,  to  perfect  the 
Divine  image  in  the  human  Spirit.  Science  strives 
ever  to  perfect  that  image  in  the  human  reason  as 
Truth.  Art  strives  ever  to  perfect  the  same  image 
in  the  human  imagination  as  Ideal  Beauty.  Religion 
strives  ever  to  perfect  the  same  image  in  the  human 
to  ill  and  the  human  heart — in  human  life  and  human 
conduct— as  Duty^and  Love.  These  three  seem  often 
to  us  widely  separated,  and  even,  alas!  in  deadly 
conflict;  but  only  because  we  view  them  on  so  low 
a  plane.  As  we  trace  them  upward  they  converge 
more  and  more,  until  they  meet  and  become  one. 
They  are,  indeed,  but  the  earthly,  finite  symbol 
of  a  Trinity  which  is  infinite  and  eternal. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


KAY  5 


RE? 

MM 

SHAY 


NAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


Q171 
L492h 


Universi 

South* 

Libr? 


